Jacqui Higgs is an Edinburgh-based, Dublin born artist with a background in fine art and painting. Having graduated from Edinburgh Art College in 1994, she then moved on to study Art Therapy, gaining her Postgraduate Degree in 1996. She became a professional member of the Scottish Society of Artists in the same year. Since then, she has exhibited frequently throughout the UK, in group and solo shows, as well as London Art fairs.
Over the past 2 years I have travelled northwards to make on-site drawings & conduct research which I then use in my studio for larger and mixed media pieces. These travels have invoked a deeper insight into issues surrounding climate change and societal complexities, often exploring the interconnectivity between human/animal relations; and within this context my destinations have become more adventurous. On the Faroe Isles, I met with residents and academics who spoke about the recent levels of tourism and how they are managing this (particularly towards a sustainable approach within the fishing and sheep industry)
In the Faroes, sheep are viewed not only in economic terms but treated with a certain level of reverence, i.e. sheep shelters are provided for them when the weather deteriorates. The motif of human and non-human interrelationships is frequently revisited in my work and working in inaccessible locations such as the Orkney Isles and the Faeroes is exciting and rewarding.
The fantastic backdrops of oceanic panoramas, fjords and sea stacks are key to an abstract way of painting in which I add elements of printmaking to the images.
